Technical Field
Aspects of the present invention relate to medical devices, and more particularly to apparatus and methods for adapting alarms in medical devices.
Discussion
Some wearable medical devices notify patients wearing the medical device of events of interest to the patient. In certain situations, wearable medical devices receive responses to these notifications from the patient. For instance, a wearable defibrillator worn by an ambulatory patient generates an alarm if the patient's electrocardiogram (ECG) signal indicates a cardiac abnormality. Where the ECG signal indicates that the cardiac abnormality is treatable via a therapeutic shock, the wearable defibrillator must receive a response to this notification if the patient wishes to avoid the administration of an unnecessary therapeutic shock.
In situations where the cause of a notification is not as pressing, a wearable medical device may repeatedly notify a patient of the event of interest. For example, if a battery installed in the wearable medical device is running low on power, the wearable medical device may notify the patient. After a period of time, if the wearable medical device continues to detect that the battery has a low power state, the wearable medical device may reissue the previous notification. However, in the case of a critical care medical device, such as the LifeVest® Wearable Cardioverter Defibrillator available from ZOLL Medical Corporation of Chelmsford, Mass., lack of a responsive action by the patient may result in the wearable defibrillator becoming inoperative due to lack of battery power.